Convicted fraudster Louise Haigh has claimed that Andy Burnham wouldn’t fall out with Ed Miliband if he were Chancellor because they are good friends. Were it so easy…
Haigh – who was previously convicted of fraud by false representation in 2014 and is now Burnham’s right-hand woman – told Nick Robinson that there was not enough time to break up the Treasury. Instead, there would have to be a No10 Economic Unit accessed by the PM and Chancellor. Asked how Burnham would avoid the old rivalry between No10 and No11 if the latter was occupied by headstrong Ed Miliband, Haigh said:
“If that were the case, they’re very good friends, so that would be fine. They wouldn’t be falling out.”
That is optimistic. Haigh said the same was the case of Shabana Mahmood…
Asked if she would take the role, she said: “I am absolutely happy to say on record that I am not going to be the Chancellor.” When Robinson mentioned her taking the role of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, she remained quiet…
Burnham is still deciding Cabinet posts and has indicated appointments will be made on his ascension to Downing Street. At 7 p.m. tonight the number of nominations from MPs for Burnham will become known – a fait accompli…
Statement by Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers Limited, following Harry’s loss in court today:
“Prince Harry wrote a sad book which boasted about his killing of 25 Taliban, his drug-taking and, in cringe-making detail, how he lost his virginity. There isn’t a laundry in the cosmos big enough to wash all the dirty linen he has aired about his own family. For him, to complain about HIS privacy being invaded takes, not just the biscuit, but the whole tin. Poor Harry. I feel sorry for the way a confused and angry young man has been drawn into this case. The bitter irony is that his mother, Diana, liked the Mail. We were her paper. We took her side in her acrimonious break up with Charles. She and I would speak and meet. The Mail’s superb royal reporter was her friend and confidante. The truth is that this trumped-up action – which has cost well over £50 million and wasted a huge amount of valuable court time – should never have been brought to trial. That it did, raises profoundly disturbing questions about the conduct of elements of the legal profession. Today’s verdict is not just a victory for Associated’s magnificent journalists – several of whom have had a terrible toll imposed on their health and lives – but a free press generally. Make no mistake. This was a conspiracy, supported by Hacked Off, to destroy a paper. Financed by the orgy-loving, racist Max Mosley and involving the actor Hugh Grant, it was also a sinister bid to resuscitate Leveson Two and impose statutory regulation on the press which, even now, is rearing its ugly head in Labour’s Media Green Paper.”